Rashard Mendenhall telling teams he’s retiring

There wasn’t a quick developing market for running backs as teams started talking to agents on Saturday and no market will develop at all for one free agent.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that teams are being told that Rashard Mendenhallwill retire rather than continue his NFL career. That comes after Mendenhall wrote a piece for the Huffington Post last month that hinted at just such a decision while saying Mendenhall was “eagerly looking to a new way.”

Mendenhall is just 26, but is coming off a year where he scored eight touchdowns for the Cardinals but struggled to produce much when he wasn’t within spitting distance of the end zone. He tore his ACL in 2012 and battled a toe injury last year, which may have contributed to both his underwhelming production and the decision to call it a career at this point.

Given his age, it wouldn’t be shocking to hear Mendenhall linked to a comeback effort at some point in the future. Given Mendenhall’s injury history and overall profile, it also wouldn’t be shocking if it was greeted as indifferently as running backs were on Saturday.